Ten.Ninety-Nine

1. Today is the day for so many things but I'm just going to start with coffee and light.

2. The unceasing questioning takes the fun out of it.

3. The three of them pile into the backseat, legs looking long and lean. I have to do that mom thing where I snap my head around to look at them and set the expectations for this morning. I am pointing my finger at them. I am every mother in this moment.

4. It's really funny how you grow up thinking about all the ways in which you're *not* going to be like your parents, only to see little bits and pieces of them spontaneously erupt out of you.

5. Party City is one of the levels of hell, I'm sure.

6. We decide on a gold and turquoise color scheme, an ice cream cake, a movie, and a small craft.

7. My brother calls me as I'm touching up the chalkboard wall. He's so much better than me at making calls. We talk about his new house and colors and ideas for wall art. We talk about our parents and how we're so different from the rest of the family that we grew up around. He tells me how he told her, "You miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take," and I remind him that the other 30 year-olds are just doing what 30 year-olds do. We are the old heads at 32, married for 10 years and with children.

8. Perspective.

9. I want to go to sleep but there is still more walls to touch with the magic eraser.